Mel Jacobson on wed 22 oct 97
measuring is a very vital part of a potters life. there are many ways
to do it. i have often told students that being totally reliant on scales
and electronics limits ones horizon a great deal.
1. human experience will be vital in measuring....the human hand,
learning your body measurements, being able to judge time, space, and
distance is critical to the artist. then learn to trust them.
2. learn to improvise. using standard units of measure that you can
find any place. dixie cups, soda cans, coffee cans...all that is
necessary is that they be consistent. mark the ones that you want,
and save them.
3. variety scales. use pound scales, baby scales, grocery scales, fish
scales..(not the ones on their bodies) if the scale is almost accurate,
use it. learn by experience what things weigh using your scale.
on several occasions i have done workshops in studios that did not
have scales. in dubai we used a set of sea shells, marked them, and
recorded the number of scoops that were needed for each glaze color.
i found a maxwell house coffee can in the garbage with arabic writing
that said...`mmm.mmm.good`. it became one of our standard tools. (still
have it at the farm)
when in south carolina last year, in a new studio just setting up, we used
a set of dixie coke cups...three sizes, and a creamer container, we
marked them with
perm. markers and calculated what we would need for colors. i think
lori still uses them. wrote the formula on the wall.
i have also found that using simple glazes with students that have just a
few ingredients helps in the measuring business...that is one reason
i have loved the gertsley, volcanic ash glaze....60/40
use anything you want to measure.....60 pants pockets ash, and 40 pants
pockets of gerts. also slide measuring by percentage is a great way to
test a glaze......we have taken this idea from 30/70 raku to
80/20 cone 11 reduction. all you need is a coffee can.
often potters read the posts of the `grunts` and it becomes very
intimidating ,and when they get into arguments over chemical history
or theory, it blows us out of the water.......how many times have we
heard the `grunts` say, remember high school physics, or chemistry..?
well many of us took art classes, shop classes and
cooking....physics and french was for the kids going to `harvard`.
we are very happy to have the engineers with us. the are vital to
our needs as potters, but i cannot be one, i have to rely on what i can
do....and often there is no one else to turn to, or the right equipment or
books are not at hand. i have to improvise.
so, relax.....experiment with new and unusual measuring devices.
we still have only one scale at the farm...it is an antique grain scale
that we found at an auction for one dollar....it serves. just don't loose
the weights. (of course we could use those little packets of bolts in
plastic containers....(learn something new every day)
mel/mn
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Dannon Rhudy on fri 24 oct 97
I was at a Yoshiro Ikeda workshop 3-4 years ago, and he was
talking with the participants about glazes. Someone had asked
specifically how he obtained a particular white crawling glaze he
uses. He gave a recipe for it. Then someone else wanted to know
about same glaze/black phase. He responded that he added "some"
of this and that. The questioner said "how much"? He responded
"a little bit, not too much". The questioner persisted, obviously
wanted a specific ratio. Finally Ikeda looked up from what he
was doing, a look on his face somewhere between amusement and
exasperation, and said "a handful, maybe; my hand, not yours".
He went on to say that he used a casual approach to glaze making,
never measured in grams or ounces, but pointed out that he had
long experience of what "a handful" meant to HIM.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
----------------------------Original
message----------------------------
measuring is a very vital part of a potters life. there are many
ways
to do it. i have often told students that being totally reliant
on scales
and electronics limits ones horizon a great deal.
1. human experience will be vital in measuring....the human
hand,
learning your body measurements, being able to judge time, space,
and
distance is critical to the artist. then learn to trust them.
2. learn to improvise. using standard units of measure that you
can
find any place. dixie cups, soda cans, coffee cans...all that
is
necessary is that they be consistent.
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